Court suspends logging project in Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee

Charlottesville, VA - Responding to a formal request from conservation groups, a federal court has issued a temporary injunction against the U.S. Forest Service stopping all action on a proposed timber sale in one of the most pristine and biologically rich areas of the Cherokee National Forest in east Tennessee. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals order means no logging will occur at the site while the court considers the groups' lawsuit.

The Forest Service is proposing to log more than 80 acres in the George Creek watershed, just west of Roan Mountain State Park in Carter County. Most of the logging would be clear-cutting, which strips the land of virtually all vegetation, exposing nearby creeks to muddy runoff and drastically altering wildlife habitat. The botanist who surveyed the George Creek area for the Forest Service urged against logging, describing the area as a "large intact cove forest . . . which is a treasure in itself" and as "one of the most ecologically interesting and species rich areas" in the Cherokee National Forest.

"This important ruling prevents the Forest Service from rushing forward to log this critically sensitive area," said SELC attorney Sarah Francisco. "As our lawsuit states, the Forest Service took inappropriate and illegal actions and violated its own forest management plan in pursuing this project. The court needs to decide before trees are felled."

"The George Creek area harbors such a rich diversity of species, especially plants, that it must be protected,'said Catherine Murray, director of Johnson City-based Cherokee Forest Voices.

SELC, on behalf of the local group, filed suit in September 2004, challenging two timber sales - the George Creek sale and the 950-acre Flatwoods timber sale on Holston Mountain - the largest timber sale in recent history on the Cherokee. Both include logging within stream buffers, in violation of the forest's recently revised management plan, and the Flatwoods project includes logging in areas the plan placed off-limits to logging because of their scenic and recreation values. Although both projects were in the pipeline before the revised plan was approved in 2004, the National Forest Management Act requires the Forest Service to bring them into compliance with the new plan. The groups also are seeking a reassessment of the need for the timber sales under the National Environmental Policy Act.

In September 2005, the lower court issued an adverse ruling, which the groups appealed. In April 2006, with the case still pending, the Forest Service sought to press forward with the George Creek sale, and the groups sought the injunction.